


Betrayal at Castle in Space

by TransLunar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Haunted House, Keith and Pidge encourage in-depth roleplaying, Keith is a nerd, RPG, Supernatural Elements, Tabletop games, betrayal at house on the hill - Freeform, but in the fun game way, not a sexy way, roleplaying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 02:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9528794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TransLunar/pseuds/TransLunar
Summary: The Paladins stumble upon a creepy looking house on a hill. What could possibly go wrong?In which Keith convinces the gang to play an old Earth game, but they all have to role play, so it's written as if it's actually happening, because I am a nerd.





	1. Co-Op

The Paladins entered into the old abandoned house on the hill to escape the storm. They used their armor’s abilities to light their path as they took in their surroundings. It was indeed very old and falling apart.

“Be careful, team,” Shiro spoke. “Feel free to explore but try not to get lost or hurt. We’ll reconvene here once the storm is over and we can get back to the castle.”

Hunk had already opened one of the doors off the entrance hall, shining his light inside.

“Whoa! There’s a tree growing into the house,” he said, stepping inside further. For a moment he thought there were bugs on him and he squirmed, turning around and feeling his neck, giving a small shiver of fear. But there was nothing and he realised too late that nothing could get inside his armor without him noticing anyways. He sighed and tried to shake the uneasy feeling.

Pidge had already scurried up the grand staircase, admiring the antique-looking woodwork of the banister before opening the first door on the left. It was a bedroom, everything covered in a fine layer of dust except for a creepy doll sitting on the bed. Pidge had never liked dolls: she always felt like they watched her when she was little. She blinked and the doll was gone. She heard a sound from the hallway and turned around, backing into the bedroom, trying to find the source. Suddenly the doll was rushing at her, mouth full of sharp teeth. She squealed and fell back onto the bed, bayard up and blocking the onslaught as her ears filled with the sound of porcelain shattering. When she opened her eyes to look, the doll was in pieces on the bed and she began to wonder if it had always been there and she’d broken it on impulse. Either way, this house was starting to make her dizzy.

Shiro had wandered off across the entrance hall from Hunk, opening a half-broken door and finding a hallway. An immediate right took him to a large spiral staircase and he frowned, not remembering the house looking built this way. A sound drew him into the door to his left past the staircase and he found a room full of random clutter. Look at the floor there was a set of pawprints in the dust, heading into the corner. Shiro flashed his light in that direction with caution, not knowing what kind of beast it might be. He gasped when he saw a black dog, about as tall as his knees, cowering behind a desk. He immediately dropped to one knee and moved the light onto himself to the dog could see him.

“Hey there,” he said quietly. “It’s okay. C’mere.” He coaxed the dog, fur mangy and matted, out of the corner and it licked at his armor, tail wagging slowly. He checked it for injuries and thought it might just be a bit malnourished. “Let’s go find the kitchen and see if they have anything you can eat.” The dog gave a little yip at the thought of food and Shiro chuckled.

Once Keith realized everyone was going to do their own thing, he headed up, preferring to have a good vantage point from as close to the roof as he could get, just in case an enemy found them. He followed pidge up the stairs then immediately began to continue up, and missed her shout of fear and the shattering of porcelain as he took the stairs to the top. To his right, branches of a large tree poked through what seemed to have been a doorway. Perhaps this was the tree that Hunk had found on the ground floor. So Keith continued straight, opening a door and yelled in fright as something charged at him. At least he thought it had charged at him. As his heart calmed he realized that yes, there was a person in this room, but he wasn’t sure if it had actually charged at him. In fact, the man wasn’t really going anywhere. Keith sized him up. He was large, and gave off a very creepy vibe, but the longer Keith looked, the more he just seemed lost and mentally unaware. He’d noticed Keith’s presence but wasn’t doing anything to hinder his movement as Keith took in more of the room. It was a study, full of books and maps. Keith kept one eye on the madman as he looked through some of the papers on the desk. It looked like plans for the house.

Lance went wandering off the foyer beside the room Hunk had walked into. It was fairly empty, actually, and as he stepped inside, he noticed the door that would lead to Hunk’s room, as well as a door on each wall. He tried to take note of different markings or a sign for future reference so he wouldn’t get lost, and so he didn’t notice that the floor boards under his feet were rotten, and as he stepped towards the middle of the room, they gave way and he fell, with a yell that no one else seemed to hear. He landed on his thigh, knowing full well he would have a bruise, but he stood and brushed himself off, limping slightly and looking around. What caught his attention first was the massive pipe organ that covered an entire wall. As he stood in awe of it for a moment, he saw movement out of his peripheral. He froze and his breathing went deathly still. He wanted to cry. There was a giant spider, like a tarantula on steroids, sitting on his shoulder. He must have upset its web when he fell. Before he had the chance to really process its size and possible danger, it was crawling down off of him and under a wooden pew. He heaved in air, clutching at his heart and shaking his head, determined to be more aware of his surroundings. He raised his light up to the hole he’d fallen through. His problem now, was he wasn’t sure how to get out of the cold and clammy basement.

Hunk continued through the room with the tree. His face immediately dropped.

“Of course I would be the one to find the bathroom,” he said as he scanned over the walls with his light to see if there were any more doors. As he did, he stilled, thinking he could hear something. A baby cried somewhere and he got goosebumps. Then a woman screamed and something sounded like glass breaking. Then nothing. Soon after he heard Pidge’s voice from back in the foyer.

“I’m okay!”

Hunk almost chuckled with relief. It had just been Pidge. But… hadn’t she gone upstairs? Maybe she had rerouted. Hunk shrugged.

Pidge was actually on the upper floor, getting the heck out of the room with the now-broken creepy doll. She actually scoffed as she took in the fact that there was a movie theater off of a bedroom. There was even an old projector in the back of the room and red cushioned seats and a red curtain to cover the screen. She inspected the projector to see if it might still work and was surprised to actually find an old skeleton key made of what looked to be brass.

Shiro and the dog continued through the house. Just outside of the junk room was a hallway with plaster and marble busts, some broken and chipped, but some were pristine and even looked cleaned. Shiro looked closer at one, touching its surface lightly and he yelped when the floor beneath him swung open on a hinge he hadn’t noticed. The dog barked and jumped down after him and they landed in a crossroads of two more hallways with floorboards that groaned under his weight. When he looked up from where he had fallen, he couldn’t even see an outline for a trap door of any kind. The dog was hopping up into his lap and licking his helmet.

“I’m okay, boy,” he said quietly, getting to his feet and deciding which way might lead up.

Up on the roof level, Keith reached for the door handle of the study, keeping an eye on the strange man the whole time. He tried to slip through the door and leave the man behind but he slowly followed, not seeming to do anything more than that. Keith sighed.

“Fine, just behave yourself,” he said. “I’m not saving your ass if you get in trouble.” If the man understood, he gave no indication. Keith clicked his tongue and finally inspected the new room, actually giving out a startled sound. There was blood everywhere. It looked old and dry but there was no mistaking it. Several creatures of average human size had to have been killed to make so much blood splatter. There were no body parts or remains to be found, not even skid marks of a body limping or being dragged, almost like it had just been thrown from buckets onto the walls. He closed his helmet to keep his air fresh, since the smell was very potent. A glance told him his new follower wasn’t affected. Keith did scan some of the furniture for anything useful, finding a stick of what looked like chalk in a desk drawer. He held onto it, making a little mark on the door frame he had come from. He didn’t know why he felt compelled to do so, but he was suddenly worried about getting lost.

Lance backed away from where he’d seen the spider go, opening one of the doors and stepping through. There were empty cages lining the walls, filled with straw for a floor, and even a skeleton of an animal long-abandoned, and it made him feel sad for it. From the look of it, it could have been a cat of some kind. He crouched down to examine its skull from outside the cage. He suddenly felt something around his ankle, and he jumped up, kicking. The action had freed him from whatever trap he hadn’t been able to see, but it had also put strain on his previous injury and he was beginning to think it was more serious than he’d originally assumed. He took a breath to steady himself and continued.

Hunk stepped back into the entrance hall.

“Hello? Lance? Shiro? Keith? Piiidge?” He wandered across the hall and through the other side where he could have sworn Shiro had gone earlier, and then made a left. He made a sound of awe at the extensive library he’d found. He skimmed the spines of some of the ones beside him and touched one that looked like it might be interesting. He jerked his hand back when he felt it tingle at the touch. It itched, then it quickly started burning. He yelled in shock and pain as it overwhelmed him. He didn’t know what was happening, and suddenly the pain was gone. But so was all feeling in that arm. He stared at it in horror as it began moving without him telling it to. It reached for his throat and he backed away, like it would help. It didn’t. He stumbled through a few rooms and past a staircase, if he had been paying attention to his surroundings, and he stumbled over the desk the dog had been hiding behind, trying desperately to hold his right hand away from his throat with his left. Suddenly, he heard a loud growl from the room, unable to pinpoint where and he was terrified. He felt like he was going to die. A searing pain tore through the arm supporting the seemingly evil hand and he could have sworn he had been bitten by something. But the cursed hand whipped around to retaliate at whatever had bitten him. After the pain passed, he felt like he had regained control of his arm, but it still felt… wrong. Feeling almost claustrophobic, he opened his helmet to breathe in the actual air. He continued, searching desperately for Shiro or another Paladin before he either went crazy or he died.

Pidge continued through the theater to see what was on the other side. It was a spectacularly beautiful chapel, complete with stained glass windows. Most of them were still intact and she went to inspect one. The craftsmanship was exquisite and the colors let in the moonlight beautifully. As she stared at the moon through the glass, she felt an unusual urge to get outside. She gasped as she realized she’d stepped up onto the sill and was maneuvering towards the broken portion. She jumped back and off the raised platform of the stage, backing up to the door with a shiver.

Shiro headed for a random door off the hallway he’d fallen to, surprised to find a very well-stocked room. It looked like a panic room, one that was made to prepare for an invasion of some kind. He managed to find some jerky, offering little pieces to the dog. He didn’t feel safe eating it himself, and he felt sorry to the dog for offering him questionable food but he’d seemed excited at the prospect of it. Just as he was going to apologize to the dog, he looked up and saw the walls were stained with fresh blood. He gasped. It was dripping from the ceiling and down the walls, covering all the furniture and began pooling on the floor around his feet. Just as he yelled in fear, he blinked and it was gone. He looked around, wondering why in the world he would see that. The dog whined and nuzzled against his leg, tail wagging.

“I don’t know either, boy.”

Keith slid into another room off the bloody room, the madman following quietly behind him. A quick look revealed some sort of research laboratory. Papers and half-finished experiments littered the floor and every inch of counter space.

At the same time, in the basement, both Lance and Shiro, unaware of each other’s proximity, felt everything go silent. They couldn’t even hear their own breathing. Shiro took a deep breath and shook his head until it came back, but Lance was startled and let out a yelp. He didn’t hear it, and neither did anyone else, so he couldn’t be sure if he had actually made any sound. After a while, his hearing slowly returned, but he was more than ready to get back to the castle.

So he continued to search for a way back upstairs and to the others, continuing through the menagerie. This door opened to reveal an old metal grate elevator. He stepped inside to look around. He hadn’t even touched the lever when it began to move. He yelped and dropped to his hands and knees in case it was unsteady. When the elevator stopped, he rushed to get out of it, and he smacked right into Keith.

They both yelped, but Keith managed to keep them both upright.

“Is that an elevator?”

“Yeah,” Lance said, giving it a side eye. “I fell into the basement. I thought I was never gonna get out of there.”

“Well you made it all the way to the top floor,” Keith told him. “At least as far as I can tell.” Lance frowned.

“I could have sworn it only went up one floor,” he mumbled.

“Does it matter?” Keith asked.

“Yes!” Lance insisted. “Who the hell is that?!” He had finally noticed the man who had followed Keith.

“I think he got lost in here a while back and went crazy,” Keith said quietly, as if he might anger the man. “He’s just been following me for a couple minutes. I’ve been keeping an eye on him.” Lance looked thoroughly disgusted with the whole situation.

“I swear, we need to get out of here before we end up like him,” he hissed.

“You can go looking for the others,” Keith said. “What if there are more people wandering around who need help?”

Lance sighed. “Why do you always have to be right?”

“There are more rooms back through that way,” Keith said, gesturing back the way he came from. “I marked the door I came through with chalk. We can cover more ground if we split up.”

“I dunno,” Lance said. “I mean, I’d hate to say that I want to spend more time with you, but I don’t think our comm system is working. I called for help so many times and no one answered.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Keith confirmed. “Just yell if you need help. You’ll be fine.” Lance continued back into the bloody room, giving a “yuck” as he saw it.

On the ground floor, Hunk clumsily made his way out of the junk room. He stumbled into a room with various game heads mounted on the wall. His stumbling had kicked up a giant cloud of dirt and he coughed as he breathed it in, closing his helmet once again. He swore this house was trying to kill him and groaned.

Pidge, having thoroughly inspected the entirety of that side of the upper floor, made her way to the next room off the upper landing. It was another bedroom of sorts, though much smaller than the one she’d been in previously. There were multiple beds and it looked very quaint in comparison to the rest of the house. On a small desk, there was some kind of skull. It looked oddly human, but she knew it wasn’t. It was cracked and several teeth were missing, but the ones that were present were fairly sharp. She carefully picked it up, intending to bring it back to the castle and run some tests on it.

Shiro and the dog backtracked to the hallway they’d fallen into, and went through the next door, finding a set of stairs. He sighed, relieved, and found himself in the foyer again. None of the other Paladins were within sight. He figured they were having fun exploring, since he hadn’t heard from them.

Up on the roof, Keith had joined Lance in the bloody room again, and they agreed to tackle the two remaining doors off of it together. He stepped through one of the doors, creepy madman following as always, and looked around. He’d barely registered anything about it when he heard the door close behind them. He went over to it and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

“Very funny, Lance,” he said. “Come on, open up.” There was no sound from the other side and he sighed. If he had mapped the floor correctly in his mind, the door to his left led to the landing, but the door was also locked. Upon closer inspection, there were several doors of all shapes and sizes covering the walls, and all of them were locked. He could hear the wind howl quietly in the distance. He sighed, swinging his bayard at the handle of the door back to the bloody room, shattering it and letting the door swing open before trying to continue.

Lance had already stepped through the door from the bloody room, wind and rain streaming into the room through the shattered glass walls and ceiling. There were several wicker chairs and a table. It was some sort of patio on the roof, perhaps for star-gazing. He chuckled and saw something on the table that made him smile. He snatched it up and looked at it. It was a rabbit’s foot on a chain, dyed a bright blue. It was a little damp but overall not in bad condition.

“Nice,” he said before going back to tell Keith it was a dead end.

Hunk had no idea where he was in the house, so he continued on in the hopes he was on Shiro’s trail. He found himself in a room full of guns and swords. All kinds of weapons and ammunition. A quick glance around told him everything was covered in enough dust that he shouldn’t worry about anyone chasing after them with a gun. A small glimmer on the table caught his eye, though, and he discovered a locket. The picture inside was very faded and the gold was a little tarnished, but he knew he could clean it right up, maybe even find out some history about it. And if not, he could repurpose it. Maybe give it to Shay the next time he saw her. He smiled at the thought. 

Pidge continued from the little bedroom to the left, finding a strange balcony-type room with walls on three sides and a gate on the other, that overlooked the side of the house. Relatively dry from the storm beyond the gate, Pidge inspected the room a bit more, determining this was something of a widow’s walk. She could see an ocean farther off down the hill. As she turned to continue on her inspection of the house, she felt a distinct sensation of stepping on someone and she tried to jump away on reflex. Before she could react, she had been knocked over and she heard a voice giggling, almost off the side of the open gate wall. Breathing heavily, she backed to a door on the side, not chancing looking over the edge for the source of the voice.

Shiro walked through the door he thought he remembered Lance walking through earlier in the hopes to find him. He gasped at the giant hole in the floor and sidestepped around it, hoping it hadn’t been Lance who had caused it. A peek down showed a room that looked fairly undisturbed, though there was a rather large spider crawling around away from his light. He reasoned that he would have heard Lance if he had fallen so far, and continued to the next door on the side, stepping through. It was black. Everything had been burnt in this room and he could smell the smoke still. It didn’t look like it had been a kitchen, though. The only furniture he could distinguish was a blackened chair, but there was a strange mask hanging on its back. It was covered in dust, but it wasn’t harmed in any way. Shiro looked at it and took it with him through the room.

Keith hacked at the lock across the room with his bayard and stepped through. There were a few steps up to some sort of attic storage place. It looked like it had never been finished. He huffed a sigh, just as a sound caught his ear. It started soft like a whisper but it began to grow, a startling voice shrieking, reverberating through the entire house. He tried to cover his ears through his helmet on instinct, along with everyone else in the house. Most of them shook it off, but Hunk was seriously frightened, and Keith had a headache as a result. The man following him seemed to not have heard it and Keith momentarily thought he was lucky.

Lance practically ran through the bloody room and the locked room to find Keith after the shriek.

“What the hell was that?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” Keith said. “I haven’t found anyone else. Have you?”

“Nope,” Lance responded. “How much of this floor have you searched?”

“Only two of the doors off the landing, but one of the others is overtaken by a tree,” Keith said, starting to head back.

Hunk, startled by the shriek, ran without knowing where he was going, and he found himself being splattered with rain. He took a moment to breathe, finding himself in a sort of miniature greenhouse. He stepped aside out of the rain leaking through the broken glass ceiling and took a seat in one of the chairs to catch his breath. He heard a sound behind him and turned. After a moment, he heard it again. Was it a cat? It sounded like it was coming from inside the wall. Suddenly, there was a second yowl, much louder and meaner than the first. Were there two cats? There was scratching as if it was trying to get out, but only one scratching. He shifted some loose stone in the wall in an attempt to help the cat (or cats) escape. What came out rushed through so fast, he couldn’t figure out what kind of creature it was, but it hissed as it scratched him before running out a broken window into the yard. Hunk groaned in pain and looked at the scratch. He’d have to make sure it didn’t get infected. He had no idea where that cat-like thing had been.

Pidge backed into a door, practically falling back inside the house and closing it behind her. She caught her breath and looked around. There was a nice fire place in the corner and a couple chairs around a coffee table. It looked like an old tray of tea had been left to sit. There was also a bright purple lounge couch in another corner, and there was a bundle of fabric laying on it. She picked it up. It was some sort of robe. She held it up to herself and did a twirl. She could probably find a way to turn it into a nice dress. She draped it over her shoulders before sliding her arms through the sleeves. It fit perfect.

Shiro continued through the charred room and came across a garden. It was actually really pretty if it could have been properly tended to. But there was something odd about it, and it was prickling at the back of his mind. On a weird impulse, he raised the mask to his face and it was like seeing differently. There was a cut out section in the wall. He slid it out of the way to find a little cubby hole. In it, he found a dew dice. He gave them a roll out of sheer curiosity. He blinked and suddenly he was on the other side of the house in a room that looked sort of similar to the one he’d just come from, glass walls shattered and letting rain in, but Hunk was there.

“Hunk!”

The yellow paladin turned around.

“Shiro? Ah! What is on your face?”

“Oh,” Shiro said, touching the mask still on his face. “I found it inside.”

“You also found a dog?!” Hunk asked, getting excited as he pet the four-legged companion. The dog enjoyed the attention.

“Yeah, I was hoping to find him some good food, but I’m not sure there’s anything worth salvaging in this place,” he said. “We can bring him back to the ship with us.”

“Yes! New pet!”

Keith led the way through the roof floor, chopping away at the other locked door and turning to the only unexplored door off the roof landing. It was a bedroom. He searched in the closet for anyone hiding and gasped when he heard a soft whimper. He took a step back and shone his light inside.

“Come out!” When there was no response, he tried a different approach. “If you’re scared, I’m here to help.” He kept his eyes moving on everything inside the closet, trying to find the source of the sound, then some clothes shifted and he saw little feet before he saw a small face. He gasped. It was a child. He knelt, to get on her eye level. “Hey. It’s okay. My friend and I can help you.” Her eyes shifted to the madman who had followed him in. “Okay, maybe not him, but I have another friend up here. And even more friends downstairs who can help you. We can clean you up, fix any bumps and bruises, and even feed you. You must be hungry.”

She nodded and walked closer, into his arms.

“NO WAY! WHY AM I THE TRAITOR?”

The rest of the room blinked as Lance stood with a cry of outrage.

“Because that’s what the book says, Lance,” Pidge said, showing him on the page.

“This is your fault!” he said with a glare toward Keith.

“It’s luck of the dice,” Keith retorted, gesturing at the measly 3 he’d rolled on the six dice. Keith had found this game in another space mall that had a shop selling Earth fads, and he recognized this game. Coran and Allura were simply watching since they couldn’t read English, but they seemed to be enjoying watching the humans role play. Keith also had to admit it was interesting seeing the house be built in three dimensions; with their floating table spaces, they could stack the levels as they were intended to be.

The premise of the game was simple: the players explore an old haunted house, building its layout differently and randomly each time, and part way through, based on dice rolls, a “haunt” will start, turning one or more of the players “traitor”, and then it’s the traitor versus the heroes. And according to the book, since Keith failed on the haunt roll when he’d discovered the girl in the master bedroom, haunt #16 was supposed to begin, and the traitor was the person sitting left of the haunt revealer: meaning Lance.

“Come on, Lance,” Keith continued. “Being the traitor is half the fun.” Lance honestly didn’t know what to say when Keith asked him so blatantly like that. He looked like he really wanted Lance to play with them.

“Fine! I’ll be outside the room reading my rules,” he said, snatching the Traitor’s Tome from Pidge’s hands. “Number sixteen, right? Let me know when you’re done discussing your stuff.”

Honestly, the smile on Keith’s face when he agreed was so worth it even if he lost spectacularly.


	2. Overkill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance turns traitor! Oh noes!
> 
> He also disagrees with Keith's game ethics.

Keith gasped as the girl shoved away from him, running out of the room towards the main staircase. He sighed. As he stood, his vision swayed and he had a vision, similar to when they first discovered the blue lion. He saw Lance. Lance had trapped the girl in the house. But how and why? He heard the girl scream, getting higher and higher in pitch until it broke off into silence. Just as he was about to shout after the girl, there was a rumbling laughter from below. As it faded, he could hear a ticking. It sounded like a bomb. Exactly like a bomb. The comm system suddenly began to work again and the others were babbling away to each other.

They needed to rescue the girl from a Phantom Lance had summoned and then diffuse the bomb or escape.

Hunk followed Shiro’s instructions to find this slide that he’d fallen down earlier. He managed to find it on accident, sliding down arms first to the basement and winding up in a room stocked with blankets and survival gear. A brass bell clanked on the floor and Hunk picked it up and started ringing it. The other Paladins heard it and rushed towards the sound. Shiro slipped back into the arsenal that Hunk had found, Pidge slipped back through the widow’s walk, and Keith charged back onto the roof landing.

Pidge slid down the grand staircase banister, skidding into the foyer and searching for the door Shiro had told them would lead to the basement. Shiro made his way to the slide after Hunk, and also fell down it, falling into a roll and landing on his feet. The dog slid after him a bit less gracefully, but it seemed happy to help. Suddenly the Phantom appeared, clutching the little girl to his side. Shiro didn’t even have time to figure out what kind of room he’d landed in. He swung with his Galra arm. The Phantom dodged and shoved him backwards, slamming him into the wall before disappearing.

“He showed up in this chasm!” he alerted into his comm system before looking for a door. He rolled the dice he’d picked up, desperate for some help, if chance was on his side. It was not. Plaster and rubble began falling from the ceiling and walls. He ducked into a barrel roll to dodge and broke into a sprint.

Meanwhile, Keith was already sprinting down the stairs, and actually breezed past Pidge, slamming the door to the stairs open and sliding through a hallway, bursting through the door and having to jump over an old coffin. This was a crypt. The Phantom and the girl appeared and Keith swung with his bayard, gutting him. There was a screech as he shattered into smoke.

“I killed the Phantom!” Keith said. “I have the girl! She’s okay!” There was a chorus of sighs of relief in his comm system. “I found the bomb. I need help diffusing it! Pidge, where are you!”

“Where are you?”

“Straight across from the stairs from the foyer!”

He knelt in front of the bomb, staring at the wires. He had no idea what to do with a bomb built like this.

Meanwhile, Lance was leisurely following the commotion, small smirk on his face. He stepped into the elevator and willed it to take him as close to Pidge as possible. When the doors opened he could see her through the open doors; Keith had just whizzed past her. He walked with more urgency once the Phantom was destroyed. They must die.

Hunk made his way over to the crypt almost as soon as Keith found the bomb, and he too, did not recognize the particular schematics of the device. He rang the bell to help lead Pidge closer. He wasn’t sure if it worked, but she still managed to find them and she took a look at the piece of explosive material, mumbling to herself as she walked around it to see it from all angles.

“This is pointless!” she shouted and grabbed the girl’s hand. “Let’s just bail it and let the house blow up!”

“Damn it!” Keith yelled.

Shiro navigated out of the catacombs and made it up to the foyer ahead of the others, spotting Lance waiting for them through the collapsed room.

“We gotta move!” he urged, but he was hesitant to leave Lance here. It wasn’t really Lance in there, but what if it was still Lance’s actual body? He didn’t want to hurt him, but he also couldn’t let him pose a threat to the rest of them.

As Keith rushed up the stairs, he spotted Lance too.

“You son of a bitch!” he growled and rushed forward, bayard out.

“Keith, no!” Shiro shouted as the red and blue Paladins stumbled into the elevator and the doors closed. As the doors opened again, Keith pushed Lance out the door and, once he saw they were at the upper landing, backed the blue paladin up against the railing. The wood splintered as his bayard slashed into it, covered in fresh blood and Lance’s lips twitched as his eyes rolled back in his head. Keith let him fall backwards, the satisfying sound of the body hitting on its way down ringing in his ears.

Lance stared at the dice in horror. Keith was roaring along with the other Paladins.

“Why would you kill me?” Lance asked, honestly offended that Keith hadn’t even hesitated. “You didn’t need to kill me to win! You guys were already overpowering me! That was just overkill!”

“That’s the game, dude,” Keith said. “Don’t look so sad. Maybe we’ll suck at opening doors and the bomb will go off! You were kind of committing suicide anyways with that bomb.”

Lance flopped onto the floor.

“This is so not fair!”

“Maybe next time we’ll get the haunt with the dragon,” Keith said, giving Lance a side eye. Lance sat up slowly.

“There’s a dragon?” he whispered. Keith winked at him. “I am only playing for the promise of a dragon.”

“Can we get back to the game now?” Pidge asked.

Keith stood in the elevator, breathing hard and trying to catch his breath. The bomb was still ticking. “I took out the traitor.”

“You killed Lance?!” Hunk asked. (“Why weren’t you concerned when it was happening?!” “Lance, it’s a game! My character didn’t know it was going down yet!” “Hunk behaved appropriately. We don’t metagame here.” “Oh shut up, Pidge!”)

“I took out the traitor,” Keith repeated slowly. He bent to pick up a dropped blue rabbit’s foot, tucking it into his armor secretly.

“Aw man,” Hunk said as he ascended into the foyer and made his way to the front door. “All right, everybody hold on, I’m gonna blast the door open.” He pulled out his bayard and aimed it at the front door. It was loud and left a giant scorch mark on the doors, but they stayed intact. “Are you quiznacking me?!”

Pidge pushed him aside. “Let me try something.” She pulled out the key she’d found in the theater and tried to fit it in the lock. It clicked and turned, and she pushed the doors open. As she did so, she noticed a fidgety piece of the wall and pushed it, revealing a moldy tunnel. She was more than done with this crazy house and decided to leave that particular secret unexplored (A/N: I rolled for it just to see and it could have led Keith directly to the entrance hall, but he’s a speed demon in this, so he didn’t need it.)

Shiro led the way out of the house, and Keith came storming down the stairs, dragging Lance’s body behind him and out the door while Hunk and Pidge watched.

“Okay, Lance, here’s your last chance to win!” Hunk said happily for his friend. 

“Ohhh why didn’t I hand custody of the girl over to Keith or Shiro?!” Pidge asked, pawing at her own face. “She’s stuck in here until my next turn!”

“You gotta roll perfect,” Keith said as Lance picked up three dice and shook them. He held them out for Keith to blow on them and he did, indulging the boy since he’d been effectively overpowered. He let the dice fly.

IF LANCE ROLLED PERFECTLY:  
Tick, tock, tick, tock… BOOM!

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED:  
Lance rolled around on the floor as Pidge and Hunk stood up and danced around the table. Keith was laughing his ass off and Shiro was watching with a fond smile. He’d rolled a three. He’d needed a six. Not even close. Hunk settled down enough to waddle his little yellow character through the front door of the house, and Pidge followed suit with the green one and the pink token that represented the girl.

“Okay, okay! ‘If you win…!’” Keith said, picking up the Secrets of Survival booklet. “‘The girl sobs in your arms as you flee the ancient manor house. You can still hear that infernal ticking, even though you’ve escaped. Glancing back at the mansion, you see a lone shape standing in an upper window. The shape raises a hand to the glass just as you pass through the iron gates of the estate.’”

“Okay, so that implies that the traitor is still alive, but since you killed me, does that mean I’m haunting the house now?” Lance asked, shooting Keith a glare at the mention of his character’s demise.

“It is a spooky old house, after all,” Keith said. “But it is going to explode, so there might not be house left for you to haunt.” Lance stuck his tongue out and Keith returned the gesture.

“That was so much fun!” Allura said happily. “And you said there are a hundred different scenarios?”

“Yeah!” Pidge went over to her and began to brag about the game that she’d not even heard of before Keith had brought it on board. Keith smiled softly at the girls, then noticed Lance moping, slumping against the table as Shiro and Hunk started to put it away.

“Hey,” he said, leaning closer so he could talk quietly. “Did it really bother you that much that my character killed yours?”

“No,” Lance lied.

“How about I make it up to you?”

“It is going to take a hell of a lot to make up for that,” Lance said, shooting a smirk toward the red Paladin. They both knew he was just teasing. He would get over it in about an hour. Maybe even laugh about it.

“Challenge accepted.”

Two months later, when they were showing off what they’d gotten at the space mall this time, Keith boasted and pulled out of his pocket a blue rabbit’s foot. Lance didn’t speak to him for two days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uwahaha Keith's attack against Lance dealt 7 points of damage... Lance only had 1 to spare. Rip in pieces.
> 
> If you enjoyed this fic, leave a comment! I enjoy talking with you guys. This was a spur-of-the-moment random decision. I might do more things in the future and turn them into a little gaming Voltron series lol Lance and Pidge at the mall inspired me.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is un-beta'd, so expect typos and inconsistencies. I am literally playing a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill by myself to write this because I am a giant nerd.
> 
> Here are the statistics from when the haunt was revealed (please note I am using the Widow's Walk expansion).
> 
> Hunk is playing as Zeo Ingstrom and is in possession of the Bite (omen), and the Locket (item). Speed is at the default (4), Might is increased by 1 (4), Sanity is decreased by 2 (3), and Knowledge is decreased by 1 (2). He is in the conservatory on the ground floor.
> 
> Pidge is playing Peter Akimoto and is in possession of the Key (omen), Skull (omen), and Ceremonial Robe (item). Speed is at the default (4), Might is at the default (3), Sanity is increased by 1 (5), Knowledge is at the default (4). She is in the drawing room on the upper floor.
> 
> Shiro is playing Father Rhinehardt and is in possession of the Dog (omen), Mask (omen), and Dark Dice (item). Speed is at the default (3), Might is increased by 1 (4), Sanity is at the default (6), Knowledge is increased by 2 (6). He is in the conservatory on the ground floor.
> 
> Keith is playing as Darrin "Flash" Williams and is in possession of the Madman (omen), the Girl (omen), and Chalk (item). Speed is at the default (6), Might is increased by 2 (5), Sanity is increased by 1 (4), and Knowledge is at the default (3). He is in the master bedroom on the roof.
> 
> Lance is playing Madame Zostra and is in possession of the Rabbit's Foot (item). Speed is decreased by 2 (2), Might is decreased by 2 (3), Sanity is at the default (4), and Knowledge is decreased by 1 (4). He is in the attic on the roof.
> 
> A rough map can be found here. http://orig01.deviantart.net/0111/f/2017/030/f/a/voltron_betrayal_map_at_haunt_reveal_by_goatbedfanboy-daxcr9g.png
> 
> And stats at the end:  
> Hunk is now in possession of the Bell (item). His sanity also lowered down to 3.  
> Pidge's sanity rose again to 6, and her knowledge rose to 5 when Keith handed possession of the girl to her.  
> Shiro's speed increased by 1 (4).  
> Keith's sanity went back to the default and his knowledge lowered to 3 when he handed possession of the girl to Pidge. He obtained the Rabbit's Foot (item) after technically looting Lance's body (the death happened in the elevator, strictly speaking, but it was so OP I wanted to make it dramatic).  
> All of them made it out of the house.
> 
> Lance's physical traits were reduced to like -3 each because Keith made him a shish kabob. 
> 
> Final map here: http://orig04.deviantart.net/d86d/f/2017/031/d/7/voltron_betrayal_map_end_by_goatbedfanboy-daxcyse.png


End file.
